The present invention relates to work garments and, more particularly, garments having orthopedic components for reducing the strain of a wearer when encountering heavy loads.
Many work-related activities require a worker to lift and carry heavy objects causing strain in the lower back area of the worker. A typical work garment, such as a coverall, provides little means for supporting the lower back area of a worker while performing his duties. The objective of a coverall is rather to provide a barrier between the worker's clothing and the work area to prevent the worker's clothing from being soiled.
A work garment having a particularly specialized application is a firefighter garment. A typical firefighter garment includes a pant and jacket, each having an outer shell of a fire-resistant aramid fiber such as NOMEX or KEVLAR (NOMEX and KEVLAR are trademarks of E. I. Dupont de Nemours & Co., Inc.) and an inner liner having a moisture barrier component and a thermal barrier component. The moisture barrier may be GORTEX material (GORTEX is a trademark of W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc.) and the thermal barrier may be a felt of aramid fibers. The inner liner components typically are quilted together, and the inner liner is separable from the outer shell to facilitate laundering of the garment.
The firefighter pant typically is beltless and is held in position by suspenders which fit under the jacket. The inner pant liner and outer pant shell snap or button together and the suspender ends or tabs may attach to such buttons or snaps, or may be attached by separate means. Both the jacket and the pant are loose fitting and somewhat baggy to allow freedom of movement.
While such firefighter garments provide adequate protection against such hazards as heat, water and flash flame, they, like conventional work garments, provide no protection for the hazard of muscle strain, especially in the lumbar region of the spine of the wearer. In the fighting of fire, the firefighter is called upon to carry heavy equipment such as hoses and ladders, over his shoulder, and occasionally is required to carry an injured person over his shoulder in the well-known "firemen's carry" maneuver. In addition, the firefighter often carries a tank of breathing air strapped to his back. All of these items and activities impose a stress upon the lumbar region of the back which is often an unbalanced imposition of a weight load.
While there are many types of designs for so-called lumbar stabilizers, such as the stabilizer disclosed in Porterfield, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,794,916 and Miller U.S. Pat. No. 4,991,573, such devices are designed to provide comfort and reduce stress to an individual who has sustained an injury in the lumbar area of the spine. It is not an object of such devices to provide a prophylactic benefit to a wearer in a typical work environment or in the hazardous environment of a firefighter. Further, such devices are designed to be worn independently of any other type of garment and typically are worn underneath the outer garments of a wearer.
It is impractical to require workers and firefighters to keep track of and separately put on such lumbar stabilizers, in addition to other garments and gear, in day-to-day work activities or in the rush to answer an alarm. Accordingly, there is a need for a work garment which provides support for a worker in the lumbar region of the wearer's spine in order to minimize the risk of injury to that region sustained during strenuous work activity.